A California pastor who just so happens to also be a competently trained mixed martial artist, managed to employ the use of his very specific set of skills in order to subdue an axe-wielding vandal at his church Thanksgiving morning. Talk about having something to be thankful for. Pastor Nick Neves who leads First Family Church in Antioch, was responding to the alarm at the church that had gone off during the early morning hours. It’s always a good idea to know some form of self-defense because you just never know when you might be caught in a situation where hand-to-hand combat will be necessary.
The Christian Tribune is reporting that the vandal had used the axe to break out the windows of the church so that he could gain access to the building. When Neves arrived at the scene, he confronted the man.
“I shouted at him to stop, and that police were on their way, and he ran and I grabbed a hold of him and we ended up wrestling in the parking lot of the church,” Neves revealed. The man of God then stated that he is a student of different fighting styles that he practices in his free time.
“I like to stay fit, and I studied in some jujitsu and kickboxing and I have a mixed martial arts background, so it was very helpful to be able to grapple with this gentlemen without having to do much harm to him,” he said.”I was able to pin him to the ground and he got up to try to get away several times, but [I was] basically just trying to wear him out because I knew I could outlast him,” Neves added. However, Neves pointed out that if the man had come to the church just days before, he would’ve been given food and care. “It’s just ironic. If he had come a couple of days earlier, he would have been blessed and get some food and be cared for,” Neves said. “But he decided instead to smash windows and desecrate property and do something that’s going to hurt the ministries.”
The Antioch Police Department created a post on Facebook about the situation, kicking it off by stating, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS ARE AS BOLD AS A LION.” The post then read, “When the pastor at First Family Church on Contra Loma responded to check an alarm in the early hours of Thanksgiving he was not expecting to confront a burglar, but that’s what happened. When the burglar saw his wicked deeds had been discovered he decided to fight with the pastor instead of repent.”
“What he did not know was the pastor would win this battle of good and evil and he held down the perp until APD arrived and placed the man in custody. We are thankful today that the pastor was uninjured during this incident and hopeful that with amazing community members like we have been highlighting lately, we can turn the tide on crime in our city,” the post concluded.
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